Climate Change
Proposition 26: The most important ballot initiative affecting California’s environment?
*UPDATES: UCLA Law released a report analyzing Proposition 26’s impacts on the State’s environmental protection laws. And co-blogger Rhead Enion has responded point by point to some of Maureen Gorsen’s arguments criticizing our analysis of the initative.* My co-bloggers have argued whether Proposition 25 or Proposition 23 is more important to California’s environmental future. I …
CONTINUE READINGHear Sean on KCRW discussing tonight’s California gubernatorial debate
The last of the Meg Whitman / Jerry Brown debates is happening tonight and promises to be a doozie (& not just because of the recent uproar over name-calling). By all accounts the election remains up in the air, with much at stake for environmental regulation in California (see here and here, e.g.). For post-debate …
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CONTINUE READINGUncertainty and Climate Models
Fred Pearce has a useful post on the uncertainties of climate predictions, including speculation that the next IPCC report may report greater uncertainty than in the past: We are all — authors and readers of IPCC reports alike — going to have to get used to greater caution in IPCC reports and greater uncertainty in …
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CONTINUE READINGAnother Senator paddling backwards on climate (are we up a creek yet?)
News reports yesterday have the moderate Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), at a meeting in his home state, expressing firm opposition to EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases. Here’s a link to the short video clip on YouTube. Up in the air is whether this means he will support any of the formal measures being considered by the Senate to strip …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and the Royal Society
Despite claims to the contrary in the blogosphere, the Royal Society’s views seem to be entirely consistent with the IPCC’s.
CONTINUE READINGJonathan’s Crazy: Prop. 23 Is the Most Important Environmental Initiative
Jonathan claims in this post that Prop. 23 — the California ballot initiative that would prohibit the state from implementing its climate change legislation — is NOT the most important environmental initiative on the California ballot this fall. That honor, he says, goes to Prop. 25. Prop. 25 reforms California’s rules for passing a state …
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CONTINUE READINGA Prop 23 Op. Ed.
Two of us (Rick Frank and myself) have just published an op. ed in the LA Times on Prop. 23. In a nutshell, Proponents of Proposition 23 argue that going forward with AB 32 in the midst of the current recession would further damage the state’s economy and eliminate jobs. But a study we recently …
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CONTINUE READINGThe New Yorker on Climate Legislation
Read the whole thing. Really. Because if you don’t, and all you do is read the subtitle — How the Senate and the White House missed their best chance to deal with climate change — or just read the tag line — “Everybody is going to be thinking about whether Barack Obama was the James …
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CONTINUE READINGDoes the Earth Need Chemo?
In a recent conversation, a Berkeley climate scientist compared geoengineering to chemo: you may find out it’s your only choice, but it would be better not to get cancer in the first place. Likewise, we might need geoengineering, but it would be better if we didn’t pump the atmosphere full of carbon. Nevertheless, it’s important …
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CONTINUE READINGMajor Berkeley Conference on Climate and Energy
Today and tomorrow, Berkeley is hosting a major conference featuring leading scientists, engineers, and policy analysts. The keynote speakers include: Ralph Cicerone, President, National Academy of Sciences Chris Field, Co-chair, IPCC Working Group 2: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability Arun Majumdar, Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, DOE A live webcast is available here.
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